U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders discussed potential security guarantees for Ukraine, outside of NATO but similar to the Alliance’s "Article 5," during a call on Saturday, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the discussion.
One of the people, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said that European leaders were seeking clarity on what kind of U.S. role this would involve, but that there were no details yet, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday praised the summit outcome, saying “The crucial point remains security guarantees to prevent new Russian invasions, and this is the aspect where the most interesting developments were recorded in Anchorage.”
Meloni added that Trump had highlighted an earlier Italian proposal for security guarantees for Ukraine “inspired by NATO’s Article 5.”
“The starting point of the proposal is the definition of a collective security clause that would allow Ukraine to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the USA, ready to take action in case it is attacked again,” she said.
NATO regards any attack launched on one of its 32 members as an attack on all under its Article 5 clause.
Several European leaders on Saturday jointly pledged to continue support for Ukraine and maintain pressure on Russia until the war ends.
The joint statement said the next step must be talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and that they were ready to work with Trump and Zelenskiy towards a three-way summit with European support.
Trump said after his talks with Putin that Ukraine should agree a deal to end the war with Russia, adding that he had agreed with the Russian leader that the best way to do this was to go straight to a peace settlement rather than via a ceasefire, something hitherto opposed by Kyiv and its European allies.
